BAK Training

01/24/2023

Sam says this better be for a really good reason…🧼🛀

It is, bud. I promise!

01/22/2023

Our favorite crazy GSP has some BIG NEWS!!

Samuel will go home to his new family this week and we can’t wait to follow along with his future adventures 🤍

12/18/2022

Sam is enjoying the warm fire on place - while we eat in peace 😇

Interested in adopting this sweet, silly, high-octane pup? Shoot us a message and we’ll get you in touch with SE GSP Rescue!

11/30/2022

Sam is available for adoption!!

Are you his perfect family!?

Who is Sam?
Sam is about 15 months old and is a purebred German Shorthaired Pointer who, according to rescue’s info, was picked up as a stray. Sam is unusually athletic and high drive (yes, even for a young GSP!) but also has a great off switch in the house. Sam does not show any separation anxiety and does fine in a crate when left at home.

What does Sam want/need?
Sam’s ideal home would be a single dog home (negotiable, based on your dog experience and the other dogs in the home) with no cats (sorry, not negotiable, unless you don’t like your cat 🤷🏼‍♀️) with an owner who wants to pursue a sport with him. Sam is not suited for a “weekend warrior” type home - he needs mental/physical work almost every day. Sam loves to play in the yard and can amuse himself for quite a while that way…BUT he can also clear a 6’ fence if he wants to. He doesn’t show any desire to escape and has only done this when a ball went over a fence, but a tall fence is a good plan. Sam needs people with a good sense of humor, because he’s a goofy, silly boy who’s full of happiness and loves to show it.

Sam shows potential in the following sports:
- Dock Diving (love of water + high ball drive)
- Scent work (ability to use his nose to find specific toys/items hidden for him + high toy/food drive)
- Barn Hunt (good prey drive + trainability)
- Agility (incredible athleticism + trainability)
- Canicross (high drive + loves to be active)
- Frisbee (possibly - he’s got high toy drive, we just haven’t tested frisbees specifically).

What does Sam know?
Sam is crate trained and house trained. Sam knows place, sit, down, and wait, along with some fun tricks. Sam walks well on a leash and has a stellar off-leash recall.

Who do I contact?
Sam is available for adoption through Southeast GSP Rescue. They adopt to the following states: AL, MS, TN, NC, SC, GA & FL. They do not adopt to families with kids under six years old.

11/02/2022

We are so wildly behind in Sam updates 🤦🏼‍♀️

The hours in the day get divided between the tiny human and the dogs….and social media gets the short end of the stick!

Sam is making some ✨big✨ strides with us!

He loves having a routine and structure - he’s settled in here, goes in his his crate happily and plays in the yard in his group like a champ.

His “place” work is coming along really nicely as we build duration and his leash walking is really lovely.

He is fairly chill during his “free” time in the house and redirects from things he shouldn’t touch with a simple “ah ah!”

Sam is going to make a really incredible partner for someone looking to do nosework, barn-hunt, agility, dock-diving or something similar (canicross, anyone!?) - he has performance written all over him and the temperament to go with it!

10/21/2022

We get really excited when a dog figures things out 😂

Sam started leash manners this week and is (again) proving himself to be a quick learner.

10/20/2022

This boy is SMART.

He is also exceedingly athletic and very fast!

He came to us with a mention of possible resource guarding with other dogs and we have not been able to replicate that with any of our dogs. He has good play behavior and enjoys a good game of chase.

We are spending a lot (like a whole lot) of time on impulse control because this boy has…none 😬

10/16/2022

We always spend the first day or two getting to know a new dog and letting them get used to the new place.

Sam acts like he’s lived here his whole life, so we’ve already added in some new rules and games.

We’ve also learned he can fly 😅

He loves his ball and we will use that (along with food rewards) to shape his behavior. He’s a neat dog!

10/15/2022

Hi guys! It’s been a minute!

Our tiny human is almost six months old and when we got a message from a rescue we’ve worked with before, asking if we could help out with this guy, we happily said yes!

This guy is an adolescent male GSP with a history of some resource guarding toward other dogs. He bounced into our house with more confidence than we usually see in client dogs and happily took food right away. Meet Sam!

Stay tuned for his updates!

07/04/2022

Winnie (10 months) working on ”place” and her recall. We use these behaviors to e-collar condition our dogs as well - they learn to turn off the pressure by performing the requested behavior and then earn a reward.

We use a distanced place command, as well as a recall, to e-collar condition so the dogs do not associate e-collar pressure only with coming TO the handler - we can also send them away with it.

You’ll see Winnie is very happy and waggy during this session! When we introduce an e-collar in a constructive, clear way, the dogs are happy to play the game.

06/12/2022

Doing some restrained sends to place with Winnie. Through the use of opposition reflex we are creating a strong desire to go to the place board. In this session Winnie knows exactly what we are working on and knows she is about to be sent to her place. She is dragged incrementally further away from the board and then released to go to it. We don’t normally do this with pet dogs when we teach them place because we want them to relax, but we are using the place command differently with Winnie. It will be used to assist in e-collar conditioning her. We taught her a recall using the e-collar, but for the work that she will be doing it is really important for her to want to run away from the handler and this is a great way to teach her that the e-collar doesn’t alway mean “come here”

05/26/2022

Working on some leash manners while wearing the baby!!

Walks are great way to integrate the dogs into new life with the baby. Charlie has no conception of if we walk around the neighborhood or just do circles right in front of our house. Taking time to properly teach leash manners makes all the difference down the road when we start trying to go on actual walks.

If you want the dog to behave a certain way you have to teach them! We can’t just expect that they will walk nicely now that the baby is here, so we take some of our normal walking time and dedicate it to just teaching.

05/23/2022

Sorry we haven’t posted in a while, we’ve been a little sleep deprived and busy!! We welcomed our newest trainer to the team (and he is by far the cutest trainer we have 😬)!! While our pet training is on hold for the moment, we are still training all of our personal dogs!

Teaching dogs to properly interact with both the new tiny human and us is a new training challenge that we have been tackling recently. One of the biggest recommendations we have when dealing with something new like this is management. That means the dogs are spending some more time in their crates and getting rotated around in smaller groups so they are easier to manage. At times like this it’s important to remember that the dogs are dogs and it’s okay for them to spend time in their crate while you get some sleep or rest. We use stuffed kongs and chew toys to help occupy the extra downtime.

Commands like “leave it” and “quiet” have become abundantly important in this new time. The good news is that when you undertake dog training at its fundamental level it’s easy to train on the fly and get some extra reps in where we can!

Follow along with our dog training journey!

03/16/2022

While we’re taking a break from client dogs, we’re working with our own dogs - especially the babies!

Winnie is now about 7 months old and has really come a long way with her impulse control, while still keeping her wild independence that we love so much.

Here she is, practicing “wait” while I prepare her food puzzle for dinner - I don’t care what position she’s in as long as she is on the platform. You’ll see her think about hopping off when I move the box (which is what her dinner is in!) to the floor and you’ll see me stop moving when she does.

Any movement from her stops my movement, which means getting to dinner takes longer. As soon as she stops herself, I continue to place the box on the ground and finally release her to pounce into the box.

(Food enrichment is not everything, but it is useful for young puppies to do more than just eat from a bowl! The chewy box + crumpled paper is a cheap favorite around here for food games.)

02/18/2022

Lou Lou heads back home tomorrow after three weeks with us.

We worked on basic manners (not jumping, sitting, impulse control, waiting and crating), leash walking, place work and recall during these past few weeks.

She’s a high-energy, field bred Lab and she’s still the same ball of energy…just with a little more chill! Today we leash-walked a mile in a new part of the neighborhood and then she worked on place while I fed the other 8 dogs. Hard work and she aced it all!

We enjoyed having this sweet girl and look forward to following her progress at home.

This is the last board and train pup before our baby is due, but we plan to pick back up this summer - let us know if we can help you and your dog!

We’ll share some progress of our own young dogs in the mean time!

02/18/2022

The progression of place - LouLou did a great job settling down while I got my dinner ready and got the other dogs settled.

Lou is SUPER social and always wants to be with the people and other dogs, so this is pretty advanced for her.

It’s so great to see this girl learn to relax and be calm!

02/13/2022

Happy Heart Day from all of us here at BAK training!

♥️🐾♥️

02/11/2022

Little bit of loose leash walking and little bit of learning to relax with a side of basic impulse control work - Lou is almost ready for her weekend at home!

We like to send pups home for a short period during their board and train work (usually 2-3 days) with clear instructions for the humans and then they come back to use for another week. This allows for a structured reintroduction to their home environment and allows everyone to succeed! It also allows us to see where the holes are still and work on those during the last week.

Lou Lou has been a wonderful pup and we are really happy with her progress. Can’t wait to see how she does back at home!

02/08/2022

This is GREAT advice for anyone with a new puppy - shared from a great trainer.

PUPPY HEAD START
by
K9 Command™

The day you bring your puppy home is when your training journey begins. Your puppy has been being trained from the moment it was whelped by mom and littermate and possibly the breeder. Enjoy all that puppy cuteness as we all do but do not make this period of their life a vicious cycle of you enabling behaviors you will despise later.

Crate training should begin on the first night home. Tough love is required and possibly ear plugs. If you give in and put the puppy in the bed so you can get some sleep you are starting the first night as a failure. This can all be modified but you must fix yourself first or the dog will never advance in it’s learning.

First day home begins with scheduled feeding times and not grazing like cattle. Dogs are by nature apex predators and scavengers. Food is a resource you control from day one. This reduces aggression over food bowls. This allows you to create a normal digestive response for ease in housebreaking. This allows you to observe your growing puppy for abnormalities in weight or appetite which could be cause for concern. Know what you feed them and regulate it.

First day home your pup should be fitted with a simple adjustable flat collar or martingale collar. Leave the harnesses on the pet store shelf and thank us later. Pick up a cheap 6’ leash for walking and initial training. A retractable leash is useful for taking your pup out for bathroom breaks “in your yard”. If leaving the home property leave the retractable leash at home where it belongs for majority of its use.

It’s wonderful if you have the advantage of a fenced yard. That said don’t let it be a crutch. All puppies should learn to potty while on leash. You need to know that they have eliminated and not guess while you were inside taking a shower or watching TV. Pick a spot on the yard and go to it. Be a tree and wait them out. If they don’t go they go back to the crate. Repeat as necessary.

First time on the leash allow the pup to drag it around the yard or home to get used to it. Do not allow this dragging while unsupervised incase it gets hung up on something. Do not allow the leash to become a chew toy EVER.

The first time you pick up the 6’ leash with the puppy attached you are making a decision of what the pup will learn next. You will enable pulling if the leash goes tight and your feet move in response. Learn how to be a tree. Walk when the leash is loose and stop when it goes tight.

By the way that leash… don’t hang it by the door. Actually use it inside the home. Keep that pup tethered to you anytime it is out of the crate. Preventing habits and problems is half the battle. You need to have eyes on it at all times or it’s nap time in the crate.
How long do you keep this up? Until the pup is mature enough and trained enough to start allowing more liberty in the house. This one thing is why we have never had a chewed piece of furniture in our entire career. This one thing is why we have never had emergency surgery on a puppy because we never let it swallow the wrong thing.

If you want to expose your puppy to things in the environment we like to utilize the retractable leash for this. The puppy can move more freely and learn how to handle conflict with non living environmental objects without your overbearing influence. Learn to keep your mouth zipped.

First day home begin teaching physical handling drills through simple means of restraint. Nail clipping and/or dremelling should begin during the first week home. Do yourself a huge favor and do not overlook this and leave it for the vet to do for you. This is about more than trimmed nails it is about the relationship.

Stay the heck away from dog parks. Puppies have absolutely no place in a dog park and most have age limits that prohibit their entrance. As the pup grows into adolescence stay the heck away from dog parks once again. The risk/reward ratio here will always be a factor. Dog parks are the ultimate gamble in modern dog ownership.

Your puppy has four legs and you have two. That said there is almost zero reason to carry them around, put them in a stroller, or place them in a store shopping cart. You are shielding them from proper exposure to the world.

All actions have consequences both good and bad. Do not attempt to devoid your puppy from learning from both sides of a consequence. Redirecting your puppy from one thing to the other is management without consequence. Do not overuse this protocol. Sometimes simply telling a puppy NO is the best choice.

Socialization has been a buzz word with dogs for the last decade or more. It is vastly overused and misunderstood. The majority of your puppies socialization with other dogs has already transpired before arriving in your home. Critical learning took place with the mom and litter mates. Taking your puppy to places and trying to let it say “hi” to strange dogs is not recommended at all.

Focus on exposure to people, places, other dogs, etc. though imprinting obedience commands on leash at a super young age. This can be accomplished by using their daily ration of food as a reward. Remember you control that resource. Marker training is learned at this phase of the young pups life.

Treat doorways and gates as a resource you control. Teach the pup to sit and wait or the door stays shut. The action of the door and freedom outdoors is a powerful reward… USE IT.

Identify why you chose the puppy you did.
Identify what are your training goals as the pup nears one year of age.
Follow a training/lifestyle plan to reach your goals.

Learn the differences in training methods and how they apply in the different phases of a pup growing into an adult dog. That is a huge topic saved for another article. In the mean time find a trainer that can explain and be wary of one that begins by telling you what they do not do rather than what they actually do. Research and examine where you can best get help to achieve workable results that apply to your needs.

Most important! Never forget you are raising a puppy into an adult dog. You are not raising a child. Love your dog immensely like family but do not lose sight of who and what they are, to do so is the root cause of many canine behavior problems.

We hope you enjoyed this quick article. This was tossed together over a single cup of coffee. There will be plenty of revisions as we identify things we left out.

Feel free to share!

Mark Connolly
K9 Command™

02/05/2022

I can’t forget to show you the TINIEST pups we’ve had with us - Jenny and Pip!

These guys came for a mini-session (just 10 days) to work on socialization, confidence and recall.

They both liked to play keep-away from the humans when it was time to come inside and that can get old really quickly.

It took a few days to get them confident enough to work (through touch and food games), but we made some great progress in just 10 short days!

These adorable munchkins are owned by a friend of ours and we look forward to keeping up with their continued progress.

02/05/2022

We are way behind on FB!

I’ll fill you in on our two (tiny) adorable pups who came reign before Lou Lou, but first - meet Lou Lou!

Lou is an 8 month old Lab puppy with ALL the energy and lack of impulse control that goes with it. Her family admits they may have spoiled her a little (just look at that face!) and skipped some important parts of puppy manners.

Lou will be learning to crate calmly, relax on place, greet people without losing her mind, walk on a leash nicely and come when called in the next few weeks.

I’ll post a video later today of her fourth place session, where she finally figures out that it’s ok to do nothing!

She’s happy, bouncy and fun - with a few manners added in, I think she’ll be a great pup!

01/21/2022

How do you keep your active puppy entertained when it’s cold and miserable out?

Food puzzles!

While food puzzles are not a replacement for other types of enrichment (like one-on-one training, positive play with other dogs or environmental enrichment activities) they can be useful for keeping busy dogs…busy for a little longer.

Food puzzles can be purchased, like the video on the right (this is a more advanced food puzzle and it is not suitable for every meal as it can be too frustrating for some dogs) or they can be as simple as whatever you have at home! In the video on the left we used a Chewy box filled with crumpled packing paper.

We also used snuffle mats/bowls, food-in-the-blanket and scattering food as other options.

What food enrichment toys/games have you tried?

12/26/2021

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the BAK training bunch! Pictured are all of our personal dogs!

11/25/2021

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us!

We hope you enjoy the day with family, friends and the very best dogs 🦃🐾

11/23/2021

Well trained dogs allow you to take amazing dog pictures like this one!! Contact us if you need help getting your dog to cooperate for cute Christmas pictures!

11/23/2021

Hi all!!

Blake’s K9, Renzo, is entered in a competition with the Georgia Police K9 Foundation!

Can you help him win? We need your likes on this photo to win! Click on the picture and like/love the photo to help Renzo out!

Thank you! 💙🖤💙

K9 Renzo, Sandy Springs Police Department

11/18/2021

We are SO excited for this sweet, giant boy and his new human - look at the cute sign she was gifted for Rex’s arrival home!

Rex went home today after three weeks of work here with us. Watching his owner welcome him home and seeing how careful he was around her made our day.

Happy adventures, Rex!

11/18/2021

Leash Walking with the DoberPony.

At 100+ pounds, we needed to make sure Rex’s leash walking skills were solid.

We elected to use a Halti with Rex, even though we can walk him in a flat collar. His owner is a small-framed, older woman and we felt this was the safest option for her to walk her giant pup. We don’t have strong feelings about any of the training tools we have available to us - we base our decisions on the dog and situation in front of us.

At our recent at-home session with his owner, Rex showed us just how much he’s learned and we worked to polish him up a little more before he went home.

You’ll see him get distracted, move away and then check back in with me as we’re walking - we don’t demand total focus on walks, but we do want those check-ins when the dog starts to drift.

11/17/2021

We are doing some new things with the Doberpony when it comes to place. Rex has more than enough drive to sustain himself and he LOVES food. He is extremely smart and understands how to learn. Before this we had shaped a place command where he would go to the mat and stay there, and we would get some relaxation behavior but it took a while. Yesterday we simply brought him upstairs (where there are still distractions) and didn’t say a thing to him, no corrections, no praise, no nothing. Just let him bounce around and do his thing. When he went to the mat we marked and rewarded him. And through success of approximation we were able to get him laying down on the mat and relaxing quickly. Today we did the exact same thing and this time he came in and immediately ran to the mat and was waiting on his reward.

This method is commonly referred to as free shaping and it is a very powerful tool. Especially for dogs that have drive and don’t know what to do with it. Making it seem like going to his place, laying down, and relaxing, was all his idea. This creates some really strong connections in the dogs brain and they can learn some amazing things this way. The key is patience though, as this process can be very slow and can require many small steps to get to success.

11/14/2021

Rex update!

Rex’s leash manners have improved by leaps and bounds! We did a session with his owner during the past week and she was able to walk this giant boy without issue. She was over the moon - and so were we!

Relaxation and place work has been the focus recently and we’re seeing good improvement here too. Rex reliably goes to place when told (very dramatically 😂) and settles quickly.

Tonight I started leaving the room briefly while working on a project and returned to find him just where I left him!

Rex has also adjusted to using (and enjoying) a crate while he’s been with us - something his new owner really wanted him to work on. He’s a big goofy boy with a tendency to find “projects” when left alone, so being able to crate him is paramount to his safety.

We have some videos to share - Facebook just makes it tough sometimes!

Rex heads home this next week and we can’t wait to hear about all of his adventures with his new human!